How did the Westward Expansion Affect Native Americans?

The westward expansion affected the Plain Natives greatly. Education and jobs were shifted majorly during the westward movement which led to a completely different way of life. All of a sudden they were introduced to schools, when in the past they only learned from experience. They were familiarized to tradesmen jobs and farming, when previously it was limited to hunting for men and being a housewife for women. The Plain Indians used to learn from experience but when the settlers came, things changed. The first piece of evidence which is on ‘document D’ there is a picture of Indian students on their first day of boarding school. It is easily seen that the children had never been to school before judging be there appearance. Also on ‘document D’ there is a second picture of the same students 4 months later. You can see the children have majorly changed. The Settlers children had an effect on the Indian children, they were living in the same environment now, Hair is cut short and styled like the settlers, there clothing is uniforms that are not made of animal skins, and even the way they stand is completely different. The settlers made a huge difference on the Indians children’s life by sending them to school.

A second quote that supports our thesis, “Taking Indian youth from the reservations to be trained in industrial schools placed among communities of the white citizens.” The settlers were forcefully taking young Indians and placing them in boarding schools with their own children. This must have changed the Indians greatly since as we know they had never been in a school before. They used to learn from experience. Before the settlers came to the Plain Indians land, the men worked as hunters while the women stayed at camp to take care of the children. In document A it stated that “There are goodly numbers who can perform service in the shops or mills.” (Referring to the Indians), this shows that the settlers knew the Indians were capable of completing tradesmen jobs.

Also included in the same text, which was a segment from a report, there is another quote that supports the fact that Indians jobs were changed, “The Indians here as a rule learn the trades easily perhaps more readily than farming.” This shows the settlers were introducing the Indians new occupations like tradesmen jobs and farming, when they did the Indians became more advanced with occupations and how they lived in general. It most likely changed how they looked at jobs and communities forever. The education and jobs of the Indians took a turn when the new settlers arrived. With the few pieces of evidence that were provided it is easy to draw the inference that an education system was introduced and job positions were majorly altered. The Natives way of life was reformed forever.